The Darling Dogma of Bourgeois Europeanists

Abstract
This review article examines critically the belief that national democracies are inherently deficient on democratic grounds since they affect people across their own borders without offering them a voice in the domestic political process. Supranational institutions are supposed to address this problem. The article explains, first, that this belief can be given two different readings: one is liberal, the other democratic. Second, it argues that making sense of this belief requires transforming it into a principle of cosmopolitan citizenship that draws on the idea of virtual representation. The current European Union would look differently if it were to abide by this principle.

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